John Muir often wrote soaring prose about the beauties and majesties of nature, about how the outdoors were our ‘natural cathedrals’; he urged his fellow human beings to leave behind their sordid, grubby, weekday cares and let themselves be elevated by the sublime qualities of hill and vale and river and babbling brook. Here, onContinue reading “John Muir On The ‘Negroes’ Of The American South”
Tag Archives: race
Critical Theory And The Nature Of Law
My graduate seminar on ‘The Nature of Law‘ read and discussed critical race theory this past week. I’ve–along with my students–been thinking about the relationship of critical material like this–along with the critical legal studies readings we did over the last two weeks–to the definitional and foundational debates that so occupied us in the beginning ofContinue reading “Critical Theory And The Nature Of Law”
Darren Wilson’s Post-Police Career
Darren Wilson has resigned from the Ferguson, MO, police force. His stated intentions are honorable, possibly even noble: It was my hope to continue in police work, but the safety of other police officers and the community are of paramount importance to me. It is my hope that my resignation will allow the community toContinue reading “Darren Wilson’s Post-Police Career”
Tocqueville On Slaves, House Of Cards, And Miami
In his classic Democracy in America, in the section “Situation Of The Black Population In The United States, And Dangers With Which Its Presence Threatens The Whites”, Alexis Tocqueville wrote: [I]n a certain portion of the territory of the United States…the legal barrier which separated the two races is tending to fall away, but notContinue reading “Tocqueville On Slaves, House Of Cards, And Miami”
O. Henry on the South (Mainly Nashville)
I’ve only read a couple of short stories by O. Henry but have long owned an omnibus collection of them (presented to me on my twenty-eighth birthday). I’ve finally taken a gander at it, and stumbled on his classic A Municipal Report. Henry was a Southerner transplanted to the East Coast, so I find the narrator’s voice–aContinue reading “O. Henry on the South (Mainly Nashville)”
Samir Chopra 